Opening meeting for Third-Party Audit--Who should say what?

[Elena_Elena_Elena]

Hello Everyone,

please share with me how you manage opening meeting of external audit in your company (system audit like 9001, IATF ect). Pls specify what exactly you used to say as a proxy or quality manager, before external auditors start their speech ? I always find it difficult how much should I lead this meeting if they normally introduce themselves and provide all information about audit like scope, aim and cetera. please share with me with details how it looks like in your company.

 

[John Broomfield]

Hello Everyone,

please share with me how you manage opening meeting of external audit in your company (system audit like 9001, IATF ect). Pls specify what exactly you used to say as a proxy or quality manager, before external auditors start their speech ? I always find it difficult how much should I lead this meeting if they normally introduce themselves and provide all information about audit like scope, aim and cetera. please share with me with details how it looks like in your company.

You will have assisted the lead auditor in preparing her or his audit plan and you will have reviewed this plan with your colleagues to make sure they understand the objective of the audit and are ready to take part in showing how effective the system is in helping them to do good work.

Reserve the meeting room (opening and closing at least) and or facilities for the remotely conducted parts of the audit.

As the audit guide you will have briefed your deputy in case you are called away and ask for the names of people able to stand in for process owners as and if necessary.

Distribute the Agenda from the lead auditor and distribute it to your colleagues if they are involved in the audit.

Make it clear that the organization will do all it can to fulfill the audit objective and then handover to the lead auditor.

After the audit let everyone know how it went: celebrate every useful report of a costly nonconformity.

My 2¢.

John

 

[Elena_Elena_Elena]

You will have assisted the lead auditor in preparing her or his audit plan and you will have reviewed this plan with your colleagues to make sure they understand the objective of the audit and are ready to take part in showing how effective the system is in helping them to do good work.

Reserve the meeting room (opening and closing at least) and or facilities for the remotely conducted parts of the audit.

As the audit guide you will have briefed your deputy in case you are called away and ask for the names of people able to stand in for process owners as and if necessary.

Distribute the Agenda from the lead auditor and distribute it to your colleagues if they are involved in the audit.

Make it clear that the organization will do all it can to fulfill the audit objective and then handover to the lead auditor.

After the audit let everyone know how it went: celebrate every useful report of a costly nonconformity.

My 2¢.

John

Hello John,

thank you for your reply and usefull tips. I meant more about details saying during opening meeting from company side to external auditors. Who should start the speech , how, using what words and cetera.

 

[Tidge]

No matter the circumstances of the external audit, I believe it is very important to have everyone (and anyone) who might converse with a third-party auditor to have a unified set of instructions and approach to answering their asked questions, and not having "conversation" with the auditors. Some common elements:

• Ask auditors to repeat questions (if necessary), and repeat the question back to the auditor to make sure the scope of the question is understood.
• If an answer is not immediately known, or there is the possibility of different answers, bluntly inform the auditor that you can't answer precisely without referring to the record, just as you would do during the course of business.

Opening meetings should have a single person delivering a rehearsed/practiced/canned introduction. I recommend not having too many internal folks in the room, as it is likely that business cards will be exchanged and anyone present in the room during an opening meeting could get called into the audit, by name.

 

[Tagin]

Hello Everyone,

please share with me how you manage opening meeting of external audit in your company (system audit like 9001, IATF ect). Pls specify what exactly you used to say as a proxy or quality manager, before external auditors start their speech ? I always find it difficult how much should I lead this meeting if they normally introduce themselves and provide all information about audit like scope, aim and cetera. please share with me with details how it looks like in your company.

Very little. The opening meeting is too late to be making extended statements.

If you have something instructive, informative, helpful for your people to hear about the audit, it should have been done days or a week prior to the audit, in audit preparatory/refresher meetings or huddles.

 

[Jim Wynne]

The opening meeting is typically directed by the auditor(s). The organization's people, beyond welcoming the audit team, should speak when spoken to, or when something is said that isn't clear. If there is some unusual approach by the organization in fulfilling requirements, it should be discussed. As an example, after a few years of experience, I stopped controlling most forms, with a reasonable rationale for doing so, and I would routinely discuss this with new auditors.

 

[John Broomfield]

Elena,

I was trying to advise that as auditee the audit is not your show.

Just make sure the lead auditor has all he or she needs to fulfill the agreed audit objective.

John

 

[QuinnM]

Hi Elena,
We provide a presentation to auditors during the opening meeting. We have found auditors often do not understand our business. We explain how we are structured, operate, and identify any known areas that require additional explanation. The presentation is short, but helps align our business with the auditor.
Best Quinn

 

[John Broomfield]

Hi Elena,
We provide a presentation to auditors during the opening meeting. We have found auditors often do not understand our business. We explain how we are structured, operate, and identify any known areas that require additional explanation. The presentation is short, but helps align our business with the auditor.
Best Quinn

This info looks like essential input to planning the audit and should have been elicited by the lead auditor way before the opening meeting.

After your presentation how often is the audit plan then changed?

 

[QuinnM]

Hi John,
We have found auditors ask similar questions about how we are structured. The intent is to provide an explanation of our structure. I can't speak how prepared an auditor is, I can only say that the presentation provides an explanation into our business practices. We save challenging the auditor during the audit, and at the closing meeting.
Best Quinn